Godzilla x Kong: Fire Up The Reactors, Grab The Axes | Review

Ever since the thirties, the world has known the king of everything, the eighth wonder of the world, King Kong, and with him it discovered the terror that nature itself could keep for us in the most remote corners of the planet. Until something greater arrived: the god of monsters, Godzilla (Gojira), and with him a far more dangerous fear, because it no longer came from nature but from the destruction humanity built with its own hands.

Since then these two titans have crossed paths in different productions, sometimes as allies and sometimes as enemies, and now Legendary brings us the fifth installment of this Monsterverse that actually worked (sorry, Universal), Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, an ode to everything anyone could expect from a story about giant monsters with world-scale destructive powers. So fire up your reactors and grab your axes, because the titanic, beastly, maiming, wrecking, brutal beatdowns are about to begin.

Minus One Is Another Universe

Okay, okay, okay. First of all, let's drop the idea of comparing this enormous production with the wonderful Godzilla Minus One (2023), which I already reviewed in another post, because they are two very different ways of understanding the same monster. The Japanese production is closer to Godzilla's destructive and reflective origins, while this one focuses on the era of the funny, destructive antihero we saw in the sixties and seventies, not to mention, of course, that now he comes with Kong at his side.

With that clear, the path of this universe makes more sense, because the first films, Godzilla (2014) and Kong: Skull Island (2017), still hadn't defined themselves or where they wanted to go; all they knew was that they wanted to put these two titans in the same space and time. Starting with Godzilla vs Kong (2021), with Adam Wingard at the helm, we saw a little less seriousness and more color, more sound and, of course, monsters pounding each other nonstop in the most brutal way, and that recipe carries over into this installment with even more color, even louder sounds and dozens of kaijus giving it their all so that you're on the edge of your seat, on the verge of laughing and bursting with excitement.

Two Screens, One Universe

The production and direction asked themselves a simple but very effective question: what do you want to see? More titanic punches, or an explanation of the lives of humans inside this world? The answer was better than we could have hoped for, because they decided not to leave either one out. That's how Legendary split this universe in two: on one side, the serious tone, with human plots, conspiracies, science and so on, stayed in the series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (which I highly recommend and which I already reviewed in another post), and on the other, everything to do with excitement, fun and disaster was reserved for the big screen.

This keeps the viewer from getting distracted by subplots that sometimes raised more questions than answers, or even ended up making you lose interest in the main story, and that, at least for this humble writer, was the best decision they could have made. You walk into the theater knowing what you came for, and the movie delivers it without asking you to decode any conspiracy while two titans are busy smashing each other's faces.

Mini Kong And Company

You'll see plenty of kaijus in this movie, each with a spectacular moment on screen, and the funny thing is that you never feel you saw a little more of one than another: the balance is perfect (and Mini Kong is a gem in every sense). As we already knew, we also get Skar King and Shimo as the pair of enemies facing our two titan heroes, Skar King as a new addition to this universe and Shimo as the other half of that threat.

Their fights, their strategies and the role each one plays in the movie are simply wonderful, and the whole time you crave one more minute of these world destroyers on screen, which is exactly what you want to feel when you go see a monster movie: that every creature earned its space and every hit has weight.

Small Budget, Giant Screen

From the HALO jump scene in Godzilla (2014) to Godzilla and Kong fighting on a military ship in Godzilla vs Kong (2021), this universe has made us feel firsthand the terror, excitement or joy of imagining that these creatures exist in the same world as us. This movie is no exception, and the best part is that, despite being the lowest-budget entry in the whole Monsterverse (around 135 million dollars, as reported), the visual effects and the use of CGI not only held up but got better.

Paired with completely superb cinematography, that makes every setting feel unique: you understand perfectly whether you're in the Hollow Earth, in the middle of the ocean or witnessing the terrible and beautiful destruction of a great city, taking in every detail to the fullest and feeling deeply with nothing but the images and their backdrops.

I Miss The Dark Chaos

Godzilla x Kong isn't for everyone. As a fan of every era of Godzilla I can understand the color and the lack of seriousness in certain situations, but it's also true that I prefer the dark, chaotic tone of what Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) was in its day, where you didn't just get to see a magnificent Godzilla but rivals worthy of destroying humanity itself. Let's say that, little by little, the franchise, in trying to find a newer and younger audience, set that dark plot aside, something that for me can work and even be good, but that I also understand many fans may feel isn't the best choice.

It's worth pointing out that the movie can stand on its own: you can follow it without watching anything else. Even so, certain aspects, like multibillion-dollar companies that own super mega hyper secret technology, don't sound believable to a lot of people (until you watch Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, of course), and that's where you need to watch other things to make sense of several situations that would otherwise feel like a Deus Ex Machina of the kind that filled bad nineties shows and movies.

Humans In The Background

When it comes to the performances, Kaylee Hottle and Rebecca Hall do an extraordinary job holding up the reality of the humans, showing truly coherent emotions and actions, with plenty of life in their eyes and expressions, although of course the script doesn't help much. I know I said that focusing on the monsters in the movies and on the humans in the series is a smart move, but we also shouldn't forget that the scale of the monsters and their destructive power is so impressive because we often saw them through the eyes of people like us: doctors, soldiers, lawyers or simply a human who had the bad luck of being in the wrong place just when the kaijus decided to turn it into their playground.

That gets lost a bit here. You don't need to erase the whole human plot, just make it coherent and keep us from being mere spectators from afar, because sometimes a shot of a human we grew fond of being hit by the destruction goes a long way. On the other hand there are Dan Stevens, Brian Tyree Henry and others who honestly only add comedy or uselessness, and we can't blame them as actors because the script surely couldn't give them more, although, to be honest, I hope they don't come back.

And before moving on, we have to pause for Kaylee Hottle, who passed away this past July 21, at 18. We met her as Jia, the girl who made herself understood with her hands in front of a Kong the size of a building, and in this movie, a little older, she was still holding up with her gaze what the script didn't give her. It hurts to write a review about work that won't get any more chapters, but it's also a way of thanking her: thank you, Kaylee, for putting so much heart into a world of monsters. Your Jia will keep being there every time someone presses play on these movies again.

Plenty Of Godzilla, Thank You

In short, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a good sequel: it takes the best of the previous installments and maximizes it even more, although along the way it loses certain things that gave coherence and emotion to the earlier ones. In the end, with different directors and, of course, different eras, everything changes and it's hard to keep an active coherence, but it's good to see this universe supported by a large part of the fandom, because having this much Godzilla for a decade is something we can be thankful for.

And in case it isn't for you, I really do recommend watching the Japanese ones, with Godzilla Minus One as a gem of cinema, a film that deserves a place in the annals of history. With its sequel about to come out (Godzilla Minus Zero arrives this November), the most serious fans can look for comfort there, where the balance between human and kaiju is practically perfect, with a story that is heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time.

Splitting the universe in two was the right call, but like any decision it had a cost: we gained punches without distractions and lost the humans who made us feel the size of every punch. I hope the next time two titans smash each other's faces over a city, there's someone on the ground we actually care about not seeing the building fall on.